By the time they reached Death God Valley, night had already settled over the land.
Rather than rush straight inside, they made camp a reasonable distance from the valley, close enough to keep it in sight but far enough to avoid walking blindly into whatever dangers waited below. They chose a clearing near a small forest where the trees offered some cover, and under everyone's watchful eyes, a modest camp was quickly raised.
It was the right decision.
None of them had ever come here before, and after everything they had heard along the road, even Shigeru's group had grown noticeably uneasy. Their usual jokes still came, but less often now, and with less life behind them. The place had a way of pressing on the nerves without doing anything at all. It simply existed there in the dark, wrapped in mist, silent and wrong.
Nathan had no intention of taking unnecessary risks either.
Genzo's life was at stake. That alone was enough reason to move carefully.
